In order to prolong the life of internal combustion engines, air filters are almost universally used to remove particulates from inlet air streams. The particulates build up on the upstream or dirty side of filter media employed by the air filter. This build up is not uniform and, according to current theory, after particulate build up in the center section of the filter, the velocity profile across the filter is redistributed so as to provide a flatter, generally consistent profile. However, it has been found that this is not the case and even at 150% of filter life, the velocity profile across the filter face is still largely of an inverse parabolic shape. It has also been found that if the filter is rectangular, the profile is more pronounced along the longer axis of the filter. To date, filter media has not been configured to address the actual velocity profile so as to increase filter capacity and efficiency and to decrease at least initial restriction.